Tips on Crib Mattress Safety

In this post, we’re going to read about how to keep your crib safe for your baby.

A clean bed

First, it is important to remove all soft bedding from the crib. Remove blankets, pillows, and all kinds of toys especially stuffed animals.

Crib must looks bare, pretty much all it has is a mattress fitted with a fitted sheet. The reason why it is recommended that all soft bedding be removed from the crib is due to the risk of sudden infant death syndrome.

You never know when your baby is going to start rolling and may come face to face with one of the soft sheets and suffocate, which is very scary. So the American Academy of Pediatrics has since recommended that everything, also bedding and toys, must be taken away from inside the crib.

Even bumper pads should be removed. Here’s why. Once the baby starts rolling, there is a risk that the baby will press the nose and mouth against the bumper and have a hard time breathing.

Crib and crib mattress safety standards

Cribs and crib mattresses should meet current safety standards. After the summer of 2011, a new set of stricter and stricter rules for crib manufacturers emerged. Before that, it was great because the cribs had one side to drop it. Which was actually helpful because putting the baby in and out of this top side is a little uncomfortable. But it wasn’t safe because of the hardware would always come loose.

The new standards also need the mattress to be fully fitted and adjusted around the crib. It is important there was no space created between the crib and the mattress. Babies could fall between the spaces.

The slats should never be 2 and 3/8 inches apart so the baby cannot fall out.

Corner posts must not be less than 1/16 of an inch so clothing cannot get caught.

Must not have edges that are broken that can cause the baby harm.

The crib must be brand new

Another tip is to always look for reputable manufacturers before making your purchase because they cannot sell mattresses that do not meet the safety requirements. The CPSC makes that clear.

Post summer 2011, all cribs must adhere to the new standard. But if you have an older crib, if your parents gave it to you or a neighbor or a friend or if you bought it on a garage sale and you have no idea when it was manufactured, verify the manufacturing label, everyone should have it. Make sure it was manufactured after the summer of 2011.

Be careful with hanging stuff

Most windows have cords, and cords are actually a safety hazard. You never know when your baby will stop to pull up and see the cord and think about what a fun toy. And pull on it, wrap it around itself, so it’s so scary to talk about, and that’s why crib safety is so important to us.

Hanging toys from the crib should be out of the baby’s reach. Baby mobiles are excellent for stimulation and have music and babies can play with them. But we have to use them only during the daytime when he’s playing inside the crib. I know they may decorate his room, but we don’t use it for the night. I did remove the mobile from the crib permanently, once he was able to pull up.

Look out for loose hardware. Something to think about is also the maintenance of your crib. We want to check the hardware every six months or so, make sure it’s all tight, especially once the baby is older and is pulling on it and jumping over the bed, and the hardware can become a little loose. You want to make sure that periodically you tightened the nuts.

Conclusion

It is important to follow these guidelines established by the American Academy of Pediatrics. That’s because you want to create the safest space for your baby. I mean, my last child used to spend at least 12 or 13 hours a day in his crib. Most importantly, I’m not there. I’m not supervising that time, and that’s what’s bothering me a little bit, and that’s why I think I made an effort for the safety things in the crib.

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